INTERESTING STUFF – 9 June 2012

DID AMELIA EARHART SURVIVE As with Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa, the mystery of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart remains after many decades. There have been tantalizing clues that she survived for a time. You can read about the latest one here or watch this video:

TRANSIT OF VENUS It happened last week and hardly anyone alive today will be here to see its next appearance. The Transit of Venus across the sun occurs in pairs eight years apart, each pair separated by 105 or 121 years. The next one will occurr in 2117.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Laboratory photographed the transit last week with four super hi-def telescopes and the video is amazing. Here’s is a shortened version from Reuters. Amazing.

FAILURE AND RESCUE Anyone who has been reading Time Goes By for a few years probably knows of my admiration for Atul Gawande, surgeon, Harvard professor, author and New Yorker contributor.

He is also the director of the World Health Organization’s global campaign to reduce surgical deaths and complications, an important credential for you to know in regard to the commencement speech he gave at Williams College last Sunday titled Failure and Rescue:

”Some [hospitals] still have far higher death rates than others. And an interesting line of research has opened up asking why.

“Researchers at the University of Michigan discovered the answer recently, and it has a twist I didn’t expect. I thought that the best places simply did a better job at controlling and minimizing risks—that they did a better job of preventing things from going wrong. But, to my surprise, they didn’t.

“Their complication rates after surgery were almost the same as others. Instead, what they proved to be really great at was rescuing people when they had a complication, preventing failures from becoming a catastrophe.”

BABY WOOD DUCKS Never heard of wood ducks before TGB reader Cathy Johnson sent this video. And I certainly never knew that mama duck makes them jump out of a high-perched nest when they are only one day old. Or that baby ducks bounce. Take a look:

HIP-HOP TALENT WINNER AT EDEN CONFERENCE The Eden Alternative, founded by Dr. William H. Thomas in 1991, is a movement that is changing long-term care. As they state on the website:

”They are dedicated to eliminating the plagues of loneliness, helplessness, and boredom that make life intolerable in most of today’s long-term care facilities.”

There are more than 300 registered Eden Alternative homes in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. Last week, the organization held its annual conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan last week.

Among the panel discussions, exhibits and educational opportunities was a talent show. And here is the “undisputed crowd favorite” [and winner], local college freshman Deavondre Jones:

PRESIDENTIAL EXCUSE NOTE Last Monday, President Barack Obama was speaking at a Honeywell factory in Minnesota. Employee Ryan Sullivan was selected to introduce the president and thought it was well worth it for his fifth-grade son, Tyler, to miss school to meet a sitting president.

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE COLLAPSE Norma the assistant musicologist sent this amazing video. The transformation and collapse of the Sydney Opera House “sails” was created by German design collective URBANSCREEN. You can read more here.

CARLIN ON HOW THE ECONOMY WORKS Even though George Carlin died four years ago, his riffs are as relevant and spot on now as when he first created them. I guess that means the people of the U.S. have learned nothing. God, I miss him. Wouldn’t you love to hear what he would have to say about Citizens United?

Interesting Stuff is a weekly listing of short takes and links to web items that have caught my attention; some related to aging and some not, some useful and others just for fun.

You are all encouraged to submit items for inclusion. Just click “Contact” in the upper left corner of any Time Goes By page to send them. I’m sorry that I probably won’t have time to acknowledge receipt and there is no guarantee of publication. But when I do include them, you will be credited and I will link to your blog if you have one.